“And as the years go by, our friendship will never die. You’re gonna see it’s our destiny, you’ve got a friend in me…”


Marie slid into the room, shrieking at the top of her lungs like a kid on Christmas morning. She flew past Marco, hardly waiting for him to move out of the way, before she lunged at Jess and took her into an enormous hug. They bounced around in a tight circle, unwilling to let go of each other. In the meantime, Marco picked up Jess’ suitcase and carried it into the bedroom.

“Where’s the nugget?” Jess finally pulled away from Marie and looked around the room frantically. “Nuggie!”

Marie scampered into the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door, “she’s with the Suters. Marco and I needed some distraction-free alone time.”

“Oh jeez, well I’ll leave.”

She waved off her hand and looked back into the fridge, looking at all the unmade food they had, “you want waffles?”

“It’s ten o’clock at night,” Jess replied as she sat herself down at the table.

“What is time anyway? Besides, it’s always appropriate for breakfast.” After pulling out the milk and eggs, Marie began the process of preparing the batter from scratch.

Marco waltzed back into the room, having changed into a t-shirt and pajama pants. He bent down and kissed Marie’s cheek before grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. “Good to have you out here, Jess.”

“Hey, can she stay here?” Marie glanced up at him, whisking the wet ingredients together.

He sat across from Jess and nodded, “you can share the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No Marco… I mean, you’ve got practice and stuff. You need good rest and everything.” Jess protested and stretched her hands out across the table.

Marco dismissed her comment coolly. “What’s the news on the east coast?”

“Oh there’s quite a bit,”

“Do tell,” Marie grinned, pouring small amounts of batter into the waffle iron.

“First thing’s first. Your sister has moved on yet again. Lizzie is now enjoying the company of Caleb Winchester. And the answer to your next inevitable question is yes, Wild Bill Thatcher approves. Caleb’s a writer at The New Yorker, but he comes from old money. A real trust fund baby. The answer to your next question is also yes, your dad and Caleb’s dad arranged their meeting. Practically have their wedding planned out, but Lizzie really likes him.” Jess smiled at her own accomplishment of gathering gossip. “Second… your mom started seeing a guy…”

“What?!” Marie yelled, slamming the whisk back into the mixing bowl. Marco sat amused at their teenage banter.

Jess held up her index finger, halting further interruptions. “They broke up a couple weeks ago. Your dad found out and threatened to cut your mom off. She basically dipped out of the relationship.”

“My dad has his hooker girlfriend, and my mom doesn’t get anyone?”

“Had. Wild Bill broke up with hooker Roxanne, because he caught her in bed with ‘Long Schlong’ Juan. But according to the Lambda Chi boys, your dad’s been doing more teaching. So he may be planning a new second career as a professor. But an unreliable source told me he’s thinking about relocating.”

“Did that source happen to mention the place of relocation?” Marco asked, fearing the answer.

Jess stared at him. The room fell completely silent and Jess slid her fingers across the wood table, trying to diffuse the now tense situation. “The source may have mentioned Minneapolis, but like I said, it’s unreliable.”

Marie put a waffle on a plate and carried it and the bottle of syrup over to the table, setting it in front of Jess. She figured if there was any truth to that, it would be because her dad wanted to be closer to Sofia. But Marco stood firm on his stance with that. After pouring more batter into the waffle iron, Marie wiped her hands on the dishtowel and sighed, “so you’re here to warn me like last time?”

Jess shook her head and shoved a rather large piece of waffle into her mouth. “I’m here on purely selfish reasons. I wanted to meet Sofia. The news on your dad is more of an alert than a warning… Just so you’re not blindsided by it,”

“We’re gonna have to move, darling.” Marco stood from his chair and walked around the kitchen counter. With his hands on Marie’s hips, he bent down behind her and pressed his lips to her neck. “I don’t want to be at an address your dad knows,” he trailed his lips to the back of her head and gave it a parting kiss. “I’ll see you two in the morning,”

Marco sauntered into the den and positioned himself on the couch, turning the TV on low. After placing a waffle of her own on a plate, Marie sat across from Jess at the table. The last thing she wanted to do was dwell on the news about her dad. That would only serve to aggravate her. Any topic was better than that.

“So how’s the vagina post-baby?”

That was one thing Marie would always love about Jess. She was unashamedly blunt. “In tact. How’re the venereal diseases in Boston?”

Jess laughed at the new direction of their conversation. But this is just like the childish conversations they’d had a year ago. “Outbreak of chlamydia amongst the lacrosse team. A Lambda Chi pledge got publicly ridiculed for having gonorrhea, and not a venereal disease, but there was word of a staph infection in the hockey locker room. That had the boys washing their jocks.”

“And boys?”

“I never did get with that cute professor. After that, I was pretty much focused on school believe it or not. I know I talk a big game, but I stayed in a lot of nights. It kind of sucks not having you around.”

“Same. I figured we’d end up raising our kids together, and surely not while we were still in college.” Marie dug into her waffles, smearing a piece around in the syrup. “How did it get like this?”

“I don’t know, and I never thought I’d say this, but I’m jealous of you.”

Marie almost choked on her food because she honestly never expected those words to come out of Jess’ mouth either. She has always seemed to content in playing the field and having someone new whenever she wanted. The idea of Jess having only one guy for any extended period of time was almost incomprehensible.

“What’s not to be jealous of? The man dotes on you like you’re the only human being that knows how to tell time. He looks at you like you’re crazy for sticking around, and the dude is gorgeous, so that’s saying something. The novelty of being with a new guy all the time is wearing off. I want someone to stick around, someone to talk to… because I’m realizing how lonely it is without that. And I don’t want to be forty years old and alone, cradle-robbing frat boys.”

At a certain point, Marie knew this time would come for Jess. Just as it had come for her. Sleeping with random people was fun until it wasn’t anymore. Although Marie’s mindset had changed because she met a man who wanted to take care of her, Jess was just tired of being alone now. She wanted to help her, but with the distance, there wasn’t much she could do.

“In a year, you got a new home, basically a husband, and a baby. I got a C in environmental law. And I didn’t even have anyone to tell,”

“You’ll get it Jess. It’s not like because you don’t have this by twenty that means you’ll never have it all. Having a baby at twenty isn’t ideal. Trust me. And my situation with Marco isn’t typical. Most twenty-five year old baby daddies don’t stick around.”

“I know. But that doesn’t make me any less jealous,”

Marie stood up and gathered the empty plates, setting them down in the sink. She’d get to them in the morning. Right now, her friend needed some intense pillow talk, and if it took all night, she’d be there for her. “C’mon, let’s get ready for bed. I’ll get the popcorn, and you put Pretty Woman into the DVD player.”

Jess grinned and stood up, passing through the living room to get to the bedroom. And after she set a popcorn packet into the microwave, Marie padded over to Marco. He was curled up beneath the throw blanket watching TV, when Marie came in and sat on the edge of the couch.

“I love the way you look at me when I wake up. I love the way you hold Sofia against your chest and read your book of Italian fables. I love your bed head in the morning.” Marie smiled and looked down at her lap quickly. She was remembering aspects of their relationship, which may have gone forgotten. “I love that you let me guess first when we watch Jeopardy, mostly because you know I never get them right. I love your nervous chuckle when you find yourself in uncomfortable circumstances. I love your never-ending competitiveness on the most menial of tasks. I love the veins in your hands,” she touched the back of his hand, “it’s really weird. And I love that you love me unconditionally and don’t let me give up on myself.”

Marco, blushing at this point despite only being illuminated by the glow of the TV, set his hand in Marie’s lap and smiled. “What’s that for?”

“Sometimes we don’t appreciate the person in front of us as much as we should.” She leaned in and kissed him slowly, tucking her fingertips around his neck. “The only person I love more is Sofia… but you’re a close second,” she giggled and kissed his jaw line quickly.

“I love you too, baby,”

The microwave beeped and Marie pecked his lips once more before getting up. Spontaneity was something they had lost in their relationship. After spending so much time together, it didn’t seem like anything could be a surprise anymore. But she had managed to surprise Marco. It was evident in his reaction. And to her, that made all the difference.

---

“Jesus, she’s a gorgeous baby. Get this child in baby modeling. Without a doubt a cutest newborn I’ve ever seen.” Jess twisted back around in her seat. They had just picked Sofia up from the Suter’s house and were on their way to the rink to watch practice.

From the moment she laid eyes on her, Jess was sure that she was the cutest baby she’d ever seen. And Marie wasn’t one to disagree. Almost two months old now, Sofia had Marco’s light brown, hazel eye color matched with little tufts of hair that looked more dirty blonde than anything. Her eyes always seemed to be open and exploring, like giant orbs of inquisitiveness. And over the past couple weeks, Marie had taken an extreme fondness to obsessing over which outfit to put her in.

Time at the rink was increasing, mostly because it was super stimulating. With all the sounds and things to look at, Sofia would mostly soak everything in. And as long as she wasn’t tired, hungry, or in a dirty diaper, she stayed pretty quiet. Plus her twenty-four uncles loved to dote on her almost as much as her father did.

Out of the car, Jess lifted Sof out of her car seat and adjusted the little knit beanie on top of her head. Marie grinned at the way she was being so attentive to a little human. It was unlike anything Jess had ever done before mostly because she used to be so into herself. The chill of the rink stung at their cheeks as they pulled open the heavy glass door, and Jess pulled on Sofia’s sweater, bringing it up over her chest.

The team was already on the ice, warming up for today’s camp. Preseason started in just a couple days, and the players that took the ice would pretty much round out the roster. With the guys already running drills, Marie noticed it was pretty much the same crew as last year. Not much had changed there.

Sofia’s eyes were glued to the rink. Whether or not she was actually able to track what was going on was beside the point. The noise of the puck against the stick blades had her hooked. At one point while line rushes were underway and Marco was waiting for his turn, he turned towards the glass and pounded his fist against it. Sofia turned her head towards the much louder noise, and when Marco was convinced she was looking at him, he smiled and waved.

“Look there’s daddy,” Jess squeaked. She grabbed Sofia’s wrist and shook her hand to mimic a wave. “Say, hi daddy,”

“I don’t like you calling my boyfriend, daddy.” Marie giggled and playfully hit Jess in the arm.

When he saw them laughing, Marco smiled one more time and turned back around to focus on practice. Jess readjusted Sofia in her lap and began bouncing her on her knee. “Are there any guys here I can have?”

Marie looked out at the ice, scanning through the lines. “I think most of them are involved one way or another. Besides, you don’t want a hockey player out here. That long distance stuff is rough. I can ask Marco if he knows of any single guys on the Bruins?”

Jess waved off her hand and stared at the ice. “I don’t want a pity date from a guy because Marco called in a favor. I’m sure I’ll find somebody awesome eventually,”

“You will,” Marie reached forward and took Sofia in her arms as she began to fuss. “You’re a catch, so it shouldn’t take too long,”

Jess shrugged quickly, but after that their conversations were about surface subjects. Marie got the feeling that Jess didn’t really want to talk about it anymore. It couldn’t have been easy to see her closest friend moving on so quickly with her life.

Practice wound down only twenty minutes later. Slowly the players began to file off the ice in small groups, and once the last player left the ice, Marie looked down at her phone. She had made a habit of going into the locker room a half hour after the last player left the ice. That gave Yeo enough time to hold meetings before all the players showered up and got ready to head home. She’d only have to go through a few more awkward conversations with Jess before they could watch the men fawn over Sofia.

Notes

"You've Got A Friend In Me" by Randy Newman.

Yet another amazing Disney song <3